End of Worlds
by mith-amrun
Summary: It just seems the Earth is never left in peace! Something is happening to Solar Systems around theirs, and refugees seem to be both the answer and a risk.


**End of Worlds**

_**Disclaimer:** The concept of Sailor Senshis doesn't belong to me, nor does any of the Sailor Moon characters who'll come into this in future chapters._

The world was falling apart around them.

The Princess hadn't noticed that there was a problem at first. No one had. Their Sun had billions of years of life left- it just wasn't something to worry about. Even extra sun activity wasn't an alarm that something was amiss. Her Sailor Senshi were distracted by news of Sailor Galaxia from other Solar Systems and distracted by their own lives. The Princess had ordered them to enjoy their own private lives as long as it was safe, but even if they had been on full alert, would they have guessed something was wrong?

The icecaps melting was the first frightening sign. Cities, homes and people were lost. So too were half the wildlife and plant life of her planet. All died because the planet heated too quickly. After that there was a food shortage for both animal and person. And weather so extreme that there had not been any record of it happening before. The Princess thought the best thing was to send her soldiers to help around the world with rebuilding and distributing of food. She thought her scientists would find a cause for her planet's overheating.

The crisis with her own people distracted her for a short while and even the news that Sailor Galaxia's threat was over didn't lighten the mood. But when the scientists returned to say that there was no reason in the atmosphere for the planet to overheat, that they couldn't explain it, that the oceans were starting to get too hot and at this rate, they would start to boil...

Even now Shina felt anger, frustration, sorrow, she hated herself for not looking for the obvious sorce of heat right from the start. But she'd been so sure that the problem was the same one that often was experienced by planets when the people on it were careless. Global warming wasn't a new story in the Universe. Global Warming could have been dealt with. They could have survived as they repaired the damage. But who'd have looked at the Sun as the cause of the problems when it was supposed to be stable for billions of years? She knew she'd done her best to predict it but she was still angry at herself.

They only thought of the Sun near the end and by then it was too late. The Sun was aging. It was starting to expand. In months, maybe even weeks, it would suddenly balloon out and swallow all the inner planets. Shina had tried to send her two diplomatic senshi out to neighbouring galaxies for help but who could or would accommodate half a planet's worth of refugees? There wasn't enough time to build a new home, to find a 'spare' moon or planet to construct a shelter for them, they couldn't hide from the Sun on their own planet. Her friends came back over and over with bad news of another rejection till one day, they didn't return at all.

The Sailor Senshi she'd sent to help around the world tried to return to her. Ayame was first to return, having not been far away, and she had gotten Shina to the underground shelter that was supposed to be built in case of war. Ayame was still full of hope then. She was convinced that there would be aid soon, that the soldiers would be there, that they'd get everyone out.

The oceans started to boil. No one came to the shelter for weeks. Then Asa and Rumi returned. They were two of the Outer Senshi, they had lost the other three when they had to take shelter from the steam, and the looks on their faces was all Shina had needed to know what the world was like outside. When Asa heard that her lover hadn't returned yet she'd become so hysterical that they'd had to physically restrain her from going back out till she'd calmed down and regained her senses. This wasn't normal behaviour for her. Shina hadn't understood, even at that stage, just how bad things had gotten outside till she'd seen Asa's reaction. The woman wasn't usually so easily shaken from her duty.

That was when Shina realized that her own lover was probably also lost for good and for a while she lost sense of everything but her own grief. For him, for her planet, for her lost senshi, for everything. She barely noticed when Asa vanished from the shelter or the way the last two senshi would sit beside her and read her stories as if she was a little girl again.

Asa did return though, badly sunburnt where her skin had been exposed to the sun and exhausted, but she returned. And with her was one of the Inner Senshi, Ren, Asa's lover. Ren had been hiding in a cave nearby. Neither of them were in good shape by the time they had returned. It was enough to pull Shina out of her selfish sadness. She hadn't lost all of her Senshi yet and if only to save them, she had to keep fighting. If there wasn't a planet willing to take them then she'd find one to hide on till she could find shelter. There wasn't anything left to wait for then. She had to tell them.

Shina had asked them to meet her in one of the last rooms of the shelter. She could see them through the door from where she stood at the end of the passage. Ren and Asa, like always, barely showed affection in public but she could see them touching hands under the table. Ayame and Rumi pretended to not notice as they sat there. Usually there'd be talk, gossip, arguments, but the room was chillingly quiet.

Shina's choice hadn't been easy. She knew that after the chaos with Sailor Galaxia trying to create wars between senshi there wouldn't be much welcome anywhere. The original idea of doing a request for help the diplomatic way had failed miserably. She had to do things without worrying about offending.

Even if that meant offending her own Senshi.

Quietly she went into the room and sat down at the end of the table. Shina picked up a piece of her dress and started to shred it absentmindedly as the four pair of eyes looked at her. She didn't like what she was going to ask them. They would hate it. But all of them needed to escape.

"We're leaving."

Immediately there was half-hearted protest from all four. No one wanted to abandon the planet. Surely there'd be help soon? There was probably more survivors. They had to find a way to get the last survivors out of the caves and mines. No planet wanted them. Wasn't it better to accept that their system was ended and that they had no place to go?

Shina listened but it didn't change her mind. She'd already thought about all of that and it broke her heart to say that she had to leave her home. Leave her people. Leave everything behind. Didn't they know how much it hurt her to say that? Shina held up one of her pale hands. "I... I thought about it. We have to leave. Our planet's time is too short to wait for help. If they come to help then they can rescue the survivors but we... we leave. Starting with you, Ren. As soon as the sun starts to set, you'll be first to leave."

Ren jumped. "What? I... no! Not without you. All of you." Her hands were shaking and the areas that had healed were going pale.

"You have to leave first. You sense things. I don't know if anyone can find who we need any faster than you could."

"Send her with another then. Don't send her on her own."

"Who do you need?"

"We can find this person as group! Don't separate us!" That was Asa, who had grabbed for Ren's hands and was now sitting close to the younger woman as if she had half a mind to physically restrain her from leaving. "Ren can't defend herself. I'm sorry Ren, but she can't fight by herself. It'd be suicide to send her alone. We can leave in her place, Rumi and I."

Rumi nodded. "Ren can't do this on her own."

Ren looked furious. But Ayame also nodded, and Ren snatched her hands away from Asa's hands. "I can be alone without supervision. I survived out there, didn't I?"

Shina sighed and looked down at the fabric she'd been shredding all this time. Asa wasn't lying, Ren's weakness was true enough. Ren had an amazing ability to sense things but that one strength had left her offensive attack just a pathetic excuse for an attack. She had been no problem when there was all of the inner senshi, she was an asset and had saved their skin more than a few times, but on her own... if she was attacked...

"Ren goes because Ren has something that none of us can do. You need to find the Princess of that system and ask her to let us take shelter. Beg her even if you have to."

"Beg! And while she's exposing her neck to the blade, we sit here and die waiting? Ren can't..."

"I will be fine on my own. I can find her." Ren interrupted Asa. After a moment's hesitation, as if she started to understand what it was exactly she was agreeing to, she continued softer, "But we should go as a group. They're right about that much. But I'll go if you want me to go."

"I won't let you make that choice." Asa said sharply.

"We won't." Rumi added quickly. Both were now standing.

"There is no choice. It's an order. Sit down." Shina turned to Ren and took her hands. "Ren, you need to leave as soon as it's safe to. The place is Earth, the Princess there has a big heart. I don't think she'll say no if you are kind to her. Don't let the Outer Senshi of that system know you've arrived, don't let them know what you want if you're found, and don't fight if you're caught. You won't be alone for long."

"You'll all come too?" Ren was shivering. Shina knew it wasn't from the cold. Nerves, probably. No one had asked Ren to go do something on her own, knowing the younger woman's limits.

"Not straight away." Shina's dark eyes bored into Rens' in hope of giving her some of her own strength. "Rumi and Asa will follow soon after and find you. Then if there's no sign of rescue and no more survivors coming here, Ayame and I will leave too. We'll wait here as long as it's safe to."

"Don't wait too long. Don't risk yourselves." Ren nodded. "But I turn up and find her..."

"She might be hard to find. And the outer senshi will be watching for intruders if they're as good at their job as ours are. You can probably trust the Inner Senshi if you can tell them apart, the ones who personally protect her."

"Okay. But do we even know where she is on the planet?"

Shina nodded. "From the rumours I heard all the activity has been in one central city. Do your research and I'm sure you'll pinpoint her. Ren , I know you can do it. And your backup will be there. The first few days can give you time alone to research and by the time these two show up," Shina glanced up at where Rumi and Asa still stood, "you'll have more than enough information to get your instinct working. Think you can pack quickly?"

Ren nodded and stood. "I think so. Should I start?"

Shina nodded. She also stood and hugged Ren quickly. "We won't send you for a few hours but wait there anyway."

Ren nodded and walked off. When she was gone, Runi spluttered angrily, "I can't believe you're sending her alone."

Shina ignored her. She turned to the calm girl still sitting at the table. "Ayame, could you see if there's been any messages yet?"

"All right. Don't be too hard on her, you two." Ayame left the room.

That was when Shina turned to the two Outer Sedai. This was the hard part. She wasn't sure hwo she was going to look Asa in the eye after telling her this. "Ren's the decoy."

"She's the _what_?"

"Quiet and listen. I know how you feel about her," Shina saw Asa go to protest this and continued, "but this isn't a time for arguing or worrying about her. Ren will no doubt be seen by the Outer Sedai. I hope beyond anything that she isn't but if she is, she'll need to hold out a few days. You two will leave soon after she does and you two will keep away from her for two days. Get us a safe place to hide at all costs."

"I understand."

Shina put her hand on Rumi's arm. "After two days, when you have us somewhere to hide, you can find her. But you know what needs to be done. I've never known you to let feelings get beyond that before."

"They won't. You know that. Going back out for her was different. But I won't go beyond what needs to be done this time." Asa didn't look at her Princess. Shina knew that she wasn't lying. "This is important, Rumi, Asa, and you're not to share this. I don't know what but something made our sun age. It shouldn't have died. And we're not the first. Another solar system died a few years before our problems. We assumed they'd been negelictant but... if something worse is behind this, we need to find it. That's why I'm leaving survivers, risking Ren, risking our own lives by sneaking onto a planet. I'm afraid something worse is behind it all. Offending a Princess and her soldiers is the least of our worries right now."

"The end justifies the means." Rumi muttered.

"Exactly. So you two get onto that planet undetected. Get us somewhere hidden in that city with the Princess. If we gain her support, great, but for the moment this is to be between us three only. We failed to protect this system. But we can't let this happen to others. Understood?"

Her two outer senshi nodded.

"Ayame and Ren will know eventually." Shina sat back down. She felt weary already. "But not yet. Asa, go spend the last bit of time with her. And don't argue over the relationship you two have, there's not time, she'll be leaving in under an hour and you'll also need to pack."

Asa closed her mouth, nodded and smiled somewhat as she left the room.

Shina sighed. "And I'll nap a bit. Can you get ready and wake me? And ask Ayame to leave me be for fifty minutes?"

Rumi nodded. "Of course. Rest. And don't worry. We know what to do."

Shina watched the tall woman walk out. She rested her head on her arms. It was going to take all her energy to pull this off.

**--------**

The four Outer Senshi were mostly enjoying peace since being reborn. Setsuna and Hotaru had barely seen Haruka or Michiru for the first two weeks- they vanished after being reborn. But they did return and returned looking content and pleased with themselves. It didn't take a genius to guess that they might have been making sure the time spent in life was enjoyed.

There wasn't much incident from beyond the solar system. There was the occasional thing, there always had and always would, but it rarely got past Michiru. She was always aware of her mirror and if the slightest thing was off about her dreams, or even just a moment of an 'off' feeling, she was able to use her mirror to make sure nothing was wrong.

It was peaceful and their lives seemed to go back to normal again. School and College. A three bedroom home for them, paid for by Michiru and Haruka's mysterious benefactor, motorbikes, racing, flirting, violin, Hotaru starting school as a normal girl and started training with the older senshi in other less mainstream things, Setsuna returning to her own studies, it was life with a little bit of duty. There never seemed much to threaten the life they had.

They'd seen the approach of someone into the Solar System without much trouble or panic. It could have been Seiya returning, something they wouldn't let him do, or it could be a person passing through. A quick check on the direction of the person confirmed that whoever it was, they were coming AT the earth. At the city even. It was agreed that they'd be there to welcome and send back.

The real concern came when a feeling of a greater threat started to dawn on all four. It was hard to explain. It was a single person, not a spaceship of dozens, not an army, but it was a single person who had something about them that threatened the planet. The closer the person, if it really was one, came, the more their blood froze over with that feeling.

Whoever it was, they had to hurry to it.

**--------**

Ren came back to consciousness just as her feet hit the ground. Her legs gave way and she crumbled into a ball on the dirt with her limbs splaying ungracefully around her. For a panicked moment Ren became aware that her bare limbs were completely exposed to the sunshine and she tried to drag herself over to shade till her groggy brain remembered it wasn't her sun and it wasn't dangerous. She sighed and let her body flop. Side effects were common after a long trip like that. All Ren could do was wait for her body to recover enough for her to get up.

She'd been warmed about this. Just before Ren had left she'd gotten a quick ten-minute lesson on what to expect from the trip and after. She was one of the Senshi who hadn't been trained in these things- it was a voluntary skill that Ren originally assumed wasn't either useful or desirable. She liked to remain in her familiar territory with her familiar people. The lesson was pretty simple- "Put on these clothes. You won't remember the trip but when you wake, you're going to feel really sick, probably throw up a few times, your body won't work for a few minutes and you won't completely recover till you've rested a full night. Oh. Don't get seen or detected. Hide as soon as you can."

That was easier said than done, Ren thought dryly, her eyes staring at the clouds drifting overhead. She was lucky it wasn't raining. Minutes drifted by with Ren lying there in the warm sunlight, her bag half under her, the sun sinking lower into the sky. Soon she was able to move her head and get a good look around.

The trees in the corner of her eyes belonged to some kind of park. There was something alien about it all, of course, the smell, the shape of the trees, a path that was pushed up in some places by roots, the odd litter on the ground here and there. But it wasn't a bad sort of alien; the air was refreshing and cool, the sunlight on her skin wasn't burning and almost made her want to go to sleep there, there were some flowers here and there. And there was the most amazing smell of all- water. Ren could smell water. There must have been some nearby? Was it the smell of watered plants, a body of water, a creek or something?

It helped her stay focused and awake while she waited. It brought back memories of the weeks in the cave. She'd always known of that cave near the Castle and shelter. It was her old secret place to go. It used to have an underwater stream running through it, it had caverns and insects that were lit up day or night. The light was never enough to see by but it was pretty. And Asa had been allowed to know the secret.

Ren smiled weakly. Asa always knew where to find Ren- she just had to find water. She might have owed her life to the older girl because of that understanding; Ren had headed straight for the cave and helped Ren get back. But it was also one of the good and bad things about them both Senshi of water-based planets, they were able to sense water and therefore each other. They were practically attracted to each other before they'd become friends. It used to drive the other Senshi crazy. Ren and Asa would start to disagree. Then argue. Then it would get serious and they'd wind each other up to be half-hysterical. It was a side of Ren and Asa that only the other could ever provoke. It had lasted _months_ and had gotten to the point where they'd just be separated at all times.

Separation usually only worked to a point. Ren and Asa liked the same food, the same water bodies, the same hiding places within the castle, the same furniture, both seemed to like night better than day for being active… Ren was ashamed to admit that many castle rooms had been found half torn up in the morning after the two had found each other. It was during one of these arguments that Asa had grabbed Ren's head to head butt her but 'missed' and kissed instead. Ren went to tell her off but 'forgot' and kissed back. They tried to insult each other but for some reason every sentence ended in another kiss, and by the morning it wasn't furniture found in all corners of the room.

Ren grinned and flushed as she made the giant effort to shift her body off the bag. Their knack of finding each other didn't fade after that. But when it became more serious they'd promised that it had to be duty first, them second. Still, Asa promised to find Ren if she could. Ren half wished she could find her right now and tease her about how helpless and stupid Ren would look lying there with her clothes in odd angles and one arm twisted behind her back. Asa was a seasoned traveller and loved to boast about her own recovery times.

Her heart twisted painfully at the memories that were flying through her head and heart. Ren sighed and concentrated on getting her tingling limbs to work enough to move again.

Distant footsteps and voices made Ren's efforts double. She was too vulnerable on her back and besides; she didn't want to be lying down if strangers walked by. Her limbs weren't awake yet but if she had a prop, like that tree, she could probably stand uprightish. Ren grabbed onto the trunk and with some effort, pulled herself up and arranged herself so she appeared to be causally leaning against a tree. The bag was still too heavy to lift and lay there half hidden behind her. But she doubted someone would try and take it. Bile burned the back of Ren's throat at the premature movement.

'_Stop it.'_ She told herself sternly, _'You don't have to throw up yet._'

The voices came closer. Ren squinted down the path and into the sun where she could see several figures coming at a fast jog. One of them made her heart stop completely. It was tall. Long legs. Short hair. It looked almost like... Asa? Ren rubbed her eyes, ignored her spinning head, and went to look again. She was too disorientated to make any of the people out. It wasn't Asa, just the sunlight playing nasty tricks.

"There!"

Ren grimaced when the three figures came close enough to block the sun. It was just her luck. Three Senshi, none of them looking friendly or welcoming, and they were without doubt coming at her.

Her senses were still too muddled to warn Ren of their attacks and the sounds were barely connecting to her brain in time. Ren found herself flying backwards in an explosion of sound, light, pain, so much pain, she was falling and falling and landing onto some kind of bush. Her limbs were too paralysed by the trip and the pain to let Ren roll sideways as she might have other times, and she squeezed her eyes shut when another one came at her, ripping through her clothes and skin as it did. The bush became a leafless thing underneath her and dug into her painfully. Ren's fading mind randomly noted how strange it was that the twigs hurt more than the attacks.

She was snapped back to reality when two hands grabbed an arm each and pulled her onto her feet. The hands were unmerciful with their grip, Ren wanted to scream as they squeezed on the already broken skin, but the pain woke her up. She blinked at the three women. She was alive still?

Voices came at her. Ren's head felt like it was going to explode, or rather, implode, and she wanted to tell them to shut up. She couldn't understand a word they were saying

'_So loud'_, she thought desperately, '_can't they whisper?_ _Why isn't my translating implant working? They must have broke it. Calm down, Ren, just don't answer. Pretend you're human and innocent. And don't throw up. Maybe they'll let me sleep…'_

A hand slapped the side of Ren's face, a hand squeezed harder, and she jerked back awake again. They still didn't look impressed. Ren tugged at an arm and was rewarded with a knee in the stomach. But voices were filtering through.

"Answer us!"

"Can't…" Ren gasped as she collapsed, "A girl go for a walk without being attacked?"

For a moment she wondered if she'd spoken their language. They dropped her, stopped talking and gazed at each other. But it apparently had been, because there was a curt response.

"We saw you arrive. We intend on seeing you leave."

Ren wondered if that was the truth. If they'd seen arrive, why didn't they just get her when she was lying helpless on the ground, why now? Ren decided to keep trying. She looked human and wore Earth clothes... even if they were becoming tattered "I don't know what you mean. Is this a cruel joke?"

"It's her." A woman alternated her gaze from Ren to a mirror. Ren wondered if she was being vain or was seriously needing that mirror.

The woman stood on Ren's hand and ignored the fresh cry of pain from her. "Go back. We won't allow a threat to stay here."

Ren could feel oblivion threaten but the threat of vomiting was greater. And she didn't want to drown in her own vomit. Her tears were spilling down her face now as she shook her head. _This_ was why she liked being apart of a team, or defending the Princess, something glorious. Dying because she either was stupid and caught by the enemy, because her famous instincts were apparently useless without the others or because she drowned in her own vomit… Apparently something as simple as landing on a planet was too much if she was already caught. Ren was just glad her nerves were still half out of it from the trip- she couldn't imagine how it'd have felt if it had returned all its full senses.

The pressure increased. Ren gritted her teeth and knocked forward with her weight to put the woman off balance enough for Ren to snatch her hand back. She had to keep trying for 'human'. "Do you mind? You attacked me without provocation, I feel like I've been hit by a," Then another pause. What did they use for transport here? Probably horse and carriage still, the planet could almost be primitive enough. Ren, even in all her pain, found that a little too amusing to resist, "By a carriage. And I'll leave the park when I don't feel so bad. My only threat right now is vomit, bleeding on your lovely shiny booties or fainting."

She glanced up and could have sworn that two looked amused behind their stony faces.

"Why are you here?" That was another woman. Green hair. Standing in the sunlight. Ren's eyes involuntarily closed and she shook her head. That stupid vomit was coming back up again now, foul, sticky, she swallowed and tried to keep her body under her control. Couldn't they just leave her alone?

The woman exchanged a glance with the shorthaired one.

"I feel sick." Ren gulped again but looked directly at each of the women in turn.

Apparently, she didn't care. Ren was grabbed by her braid and pulled up a few inches. "Talk!"

Ren cried out and pushed at the woman with her fists, but that was all it was waiting for. Something flew out of her mouth, it was black, it was sticky, it was coming out in one giant solid mass and she could feel it starting to suffocate her lungs as it blocked her windpipe. Ren was dropped but it didn't break with the increasing distance, it seemed to stretch and tug her head up. Ren's terrified eyes met the woman's astonished ones, her face was going blue, she wouldn't be able to last without air...

And then with a horrible glug it popped out. Ren scrambled back as she panted for air, gagged and dry wrenched on the taste, her eyes wide with panic while she stared at the thing she'd thrown up. It was _vile_. It clung to the woman's legs and the ground with the consistency of glue. The woman fell over as well when she tried to step back from it.

"Uranus!" The aqua-haired woman was tugging at the woman. That only succeeded in dragging both the woman and the blob thing. Then she tried to pry them apart. To both Ren and the woman's shock, it separated a portion of it to wrap around her arms too.

"Neptune! Pluto, attack them."

Them? Ren gasped. Over six parts of it were separating, breaking off and crawling in different directions.

An idea burst to the front of her mind. If Ren could prove that she intended no harm, she wasn't there to hurt them, maybe they'd… well, they'd do something better than their first welcome. Ren hobbled and crawled to where a long stick was. With it as a walking stick, she hurried back to the one 'eating' the two women's limbs, throwing it into where she assumed a head might be.

Somehow Ren crawled over to a long thick branch. She dragged it over to their side, used it as a means of standing, and tried to stab the thing. A part separated and started to climb up the stick. Ren didn't let go, she pulled as hard as she could, maybe she could separate it from the two women too?

And then Ren found herself lying on the ground, mind and body consumed by _more_ pain, _more_ blood seeping through her, but with the three women standing over her. What happened? Had she just dreamt it? One look at 'Neptune' and 'Uranus' was enough to answer that, they too had torn uniforms, bleeding cuts, burns up their arms and legs, and both looked shaken. But they weren't caught.

"Don't move." A foot was planted firmly on Ren's stomach to prevent her from moving. Ren started to throw up again, sending all three stepping back hurriedly a few paces, but it was normal. She gasped and coughed, tears squeezing through her hot eyes from the effort, the muscles in her chest protesting and screaming at her at the muscles moving to make it all happen. There was a sigh of relief from the three.

"Uranus, Pluto..." Neptune shared a look with Uranus and Pluto. They nodded. All three were sharing the same feeling. Earlier, before she'd brought up that thing, she'd felt like a big threat. But she didn't radiate that same feeling now. She almost felt like …one of the inner girls? Not helpless or threatless, not by a long shot, and an unwelcome stranger that had something that made their hair stand on edge… but she wasn't something to get rid of immediately.

"I need water." Ren croaked but was ignored.

The three stepped further away.

"We can't take her home." Uranus whispered.

"We don't have any other place to keep her in. And we can't let her go, what if she makes another of those things? I don't know I found all the pieces in the first place, what if she makes more of them?. She needs to be watched." Pluto didn't like it much either.

"Your room has a lock, Pluto?" Neptune glanced at the girl who had crawled to a tap. She lowered her voice, "I might have an idea."

"Yes but she…what?"

"Bad cop, good cop." Uranus's weary face smiled at Neptune.

Neptune nodded and returned the smile.

"But Hotoru?" Pluto wasn't sure. "She's one of us but…"

"She'll survive."

"She could just be a regular person. A host. The threat might be leaving her as we speak." But as Pluto said it, she didn't believe it. A regular person didn't have the ability to withstand that kind of attack so many times and be conscious enough to find a tap to drink from. The girl probably didn't know much about humans. "Or we could pretend we believe it. Let her go on her own."

"I don't like the idea of her being left alone to vanish." Neptune paused. "Like she just did."

All three stared at the place where the girl had been lying.

**--------**

The water had given Ren some sort of energy and she'd found that she could crawl into the bush softly enough to not be noticed. Being unsure if her gesture of goodwill had been accepted or not, she'd made a decision to not trust them. They probably didn't trust her, even after she'd tried to help, which gave her a pretty clear indication that they were the Outer. She would have been annoyed if she could waste time and energy doing it but for the moment she just had to get away.

Once out of their eyesight, Ren had pulled herself to her feet and started a painful gravity and weight based run, using the trees and bushes for support as she went. If Ren put weight on each leg only for a short time, it was only a short intense pain, so she went faster and faster. It dawned on her that the smell of that water was back in her nostrils, closer, sweeter, more alluring…

And there it was! Ren could have cried with relief at the sight of water shining through the trees. Six strides, five, four, three, two, she could feel the water around her ankles, Ren took one more step and fell into the waiting lake. The cold water embraced her, wrapped her up in it, her weight was taken away and the wounds stopped to hurt as much.

Paradise.

For a moment Ren floated there with her clothes spreading out around her, and the water drawing her in deeper, further in, letting Ren's clothes weigh her to the gravely bottom. A state of half-consciousness took over her. Ren kicked lightly, pushed at the gravel with her hands, and pushed herself deeper. The cold and dark was closing in around her. Water was surrounding her for the first time in months! Ren opened her eyes and gazed with wonder at her hands, speckled gold now with some sort of gold mineral floating in the water with her, the aches and pain drift into a throbbing that was bearable, and with her weight on her legs now gone, she could move them without much effort.

Ren closed her eyes again. Maybe she'd just sleep here.

She woke up when something touched her gently on her arm. Ren opened her eyes and stared. It was that woman again, Neptune, who was staring at her through the murkiness. For a minute the two drifted and stared at each other, two water elements, as if they were bonded beyond alliances to systems and Princess by the embrace of their water.

Ren had the feeling that she'd given herself away completely in those moments between them but it didn't concern her down here. When the woman tried to pull her to the surface, she pulled herself away and drifted lower. Deeper. Her lungs were able to last a while long yet. Ren kicked as a hand firmly wrapped around her ankle and towed her upwards, higher, back towards the pain and the fear and the bad world.

"There!" Haruka rowed towards a disturbance on the lake where Neptune had appeared with a foot. That girl was pulled up too. For a moment she thought she might have drowned, the girl was still, pale, floppy, but the girl took a deep breath in when she was tugged into the boat. She was just unconscious.

"What took you so long?"

Neptune glanced at the girl then smiled at Uranus. "Getting nice and wet." The smile increased at the flush that she knew would follow and Uranus's nervous glance at the girl.

Slowly they rowed back to the shore. Neptune untransformed when she was sure no one was around, and carried the girl to the car park near the lake. Setsuna was already waiting there with Haruka's car behind her, the keys already being held out. "I always feel nervous touching your car keys, don't make me drive again. Take them. Is she..."

"Out of it.. She was sleeping when I found her." Micihiru glanced at the girl. "She'd fallen asleep in the water."

"Not exactly natural for a 'human.'" Setsuna climbed into the back beside the girl and pushed the bag to Micihiru. "What has she got?"

Haruka started the car away from the lake. Micihiru pulled the bag open and held up the first thing she'd found- a smooth alien oval thing. It could have been a normal brooch but for the metal itself and for a crystal inside that resembled a planet of blue and green. It spun slowly as she moved it, moving with the movement of the brooch. And it radiated power. No one seemed all that surprised by it's appearance.

" Of course she's one, but who and where?" Setsuna took it and turned it around. There wasn't a 'made on ...' sticker or a sign, and it was very simple, but she no doubt what it was for. "Not one of the Sailor Starlights We should hold onto it."

"She can have it when she leaves."

"But use it to get information first. I don't like that another Sailor Senshi is here." Haruka glanced at the sleeping girl behind them. "And we need to cut contact with the inner." They all sighed. Peace meant that they could almost be friends but this wasn't the inner's problem. And they would no doubt make it their problem. And they'd suspect something was strange if they did. "Perhaps just lessen it."

"Agreed."

"And..." Micihiru held up another thing. It was like their watches, minus the watch itself, it was only a strip of fabric with a smooth bump. When Micihiru flipped the fabric up, she caught a glimpse of another woman, with a background that was most certainty Tokyo, but who was looking away into another direction. She flipped it shut again. "It's like our watches. Communication. There's more than one here."

"Could be tracing her."

Micihiru sighed and hesitated. Even if she wasn't always a fan of technology, she knew the advantages of an advanced piece. Ami would murder them if she knew what Micihiru held. "It would be useful to lure her friends if they come for her."

"I know. But we're not ready for that yet, we need answers without disturbance. We can enlist the help of Ami to repair it if we need to..." Haruka glanced sideways. "When she's stopped throttling us. And she can make it so that it is only one way."

Micihiru nodded, took off her shoes and used the heels to smash it.

**--------**

Asa and Rumi sat wearily in a hotel's restaurant with their drinks, staring out the window at the people passing by. They had accomplished their first few goals- recover quickly and without detection, that had gone smoother than expected, find a computer and download information on the culture, on their money, and how the two might get this money. It had amused them greatly to find out that the culture still used cards with electronic money. They'd gotten their 'yen' by using their own cards, a card that was designed to work at all, as this world called them, ATMs. Asa and Rumi had been sure it would be more complicated. They'd _hoped_ it would be!

There was a beautiful room upstairs waiting for the two of them, food, computers with an internet that apparently was there to provide them with all the information on the world they needed, a list of houses for sale in the area…

It was almost too easy!

Asa sighed and sipped the drink again. She'd promised to not go to Ren before two days had passed. And she knew that Ren might not forgive her if she did, she knew how important it was for Ren to prove to herself that she could do things on her own, but the signal from Ren's communication strip had vanished over an hour before.

"She'll be fine." Rumi was watching Asa carefully. "You know…"

"I know." Asa glanced at Rumi and shrugged. "I know. What safe area can we provide for the Pr… Shina?"

Rumi turned to her own drink, stirring the frothy milk with the straw. "I was thinking an apartment, one of those residences in the tall buildings. Lots of people packed into a small area."

"I agree. But then, lots of people to overhear something or spy, but on the other side, lots of people to spy on, eavesdrop on."

"Exactly. " Rumi nodded, yawning. "Any clues would be good."

"And we must enlist in school."

"What?" That woke Rumi up. She stared incredulously at Asa.

Asa shrugged. "Girls our age are at school or college here, aren't they?"

"I suppose so. It would be strange to our neighbours if we weren't…" Rumi wasn't convinced. "But is it necessary? To really do it?"

"Pri… Shina would love it. She always tried to get us to learn extra." Asa added, "And what if who we seek is still in school? Or college? Or her soldiers are? Worth looking into."

"Yes. True." Rumi looked as glum as Asa had before when she was thinking about Ren. "We could look into that tonight. Or tomorrow when we've found a home. You could go and I could scout this area."

"Tonight. Both of us."

"Rumi's half-hearted agreement came as a grunt and a reluctant, "School too then."

**--------**

There shouldn't be any OC/canon romantic character relationships. I think. That's the plan, anyway! At the very least, none that'll break up any existing couple.


End file.
